Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.telcom From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: telcom Wed, Mar 4 1992 Date: Wed, 4 Mar 92 05:50:52 EST Message-ID: 03-04 0000 DECISIONLINE: Telecommunications USA TODAY Update March 4, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network AT&T TO USE VOICE RECOGNITION: AT&T says it will use computers that understand the human voice to handle collect calls, third number billing and calls using AT&T's calling card. The firm hopes to cut about 6,000 of its 18,000 long-distance operators. AT&T says the new technology will hit Jacksonville, Fla., and Seattle, Wash., in June and will be used nationwide by early 1994. UNION UPSET WITH MOVE: Bell Laboratories has developed computer technology that can hear and comprehend any caller's voice. AT&T will use it for operator assistance calls starting in June. The Communications Workers of America is upset. "People don't like to talk to a machine when they need assistance," says CWA's Morton Bahr. AT&T says only 5% of callers now use human operators to place calls. FIRMS USING VIDOECONFERENCING: Videoconferencing, once an exclusive high-tech tool for Fortune 500 companies, is increasingly being used by small businesses. That has helped improve the potential for the videoconferencing market to grow. It had less than $200 million in annual sales in 1991. A recent report by Goldman Sachs securities analyst Mary C. Henry puts the market at $1 billion or more by 1995. (For more, see special Conferencing package below.) ITT TO SELL ALCATEL STAKE: ITT Corp. said Tuesday it will sell its 30% stake in the French telecommunications giant Alcatel NV. Some ITT shareholders have complained that the firm has become too diversified. Once exclusively a telecommunications company, ITT was by the 1970s an automotive, electronics, defense, timber, insurance, hotel, and finance company. SOUTHWESTERN ASKS FOR INCREASE: Southwestern Bell is seeking a $16 million increase in rates for directory assistance and other optional services in Arkansas. Last month, the Arkansas Public Service Commission ordered all telephone companies to slash in-state long-distance rates by $19.1 million annually. CLAIM FORMS TO BE MAILED: U.S. Postal Inspectors Tuesday said they will begin mailing 70,000 refund claim forms to consumers throughout the USA on Thursday. The forms will permit consumers who believe they were cheated as a result of a 900 telephone fraud scheme to apply for a refund. A promotion called Disc Sweepstakes charged $10 per call for a travel certificate of no value to the average consumer. GTE, HEWLETT-PACKARD SIGN DEAL: GTE Telephone Operations and Hewlett-Packard Co. Tuesday announced a three-year strategic agreement. HP will provide GTE approximately $100 million in computer products and services, a portion of which GTE will resell through its distribution arm, GTE Supply. Also under the deal, HP becomes one of GTE's strategic suppliers of client:server computing systems. GROUP DISAPPOINTED WITH RULING: American Women in Radio and Television, Inc. said Tuesday it is very disappointed with the decision of Lamprecht vs. the Federal Communications Commission released last week. The ruling gives women no special priority in receiving FCC broadcast licenses. The group said the decision is a major setback to women's efforts to obtain ownership of broadcast facilities. COMLINK TAKING ORDERS: ComLink International said Tuesday it will now begin taking orders for ComLink Video Conference Systems for shipment early second quarter, 1992. ComLink's video workstations will use Integrated Services Digital Networks as well as ordinary telephone facilities for transmissions. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON CONFERENCING: SYSTEM SAVES MONEY: There are times when people have to travel, but videoconferencing can help companies share information and ideas without leaving the office. "We can call a meeting on five minutes notice," says Ikos Systems Dan Hafeman. In the long run, videoconferencing is considerably cheaper than flying and booking a hotel. PROBLEMS CAN BE WORKED ON: The Persian gulf war spurred videoconferencing when companies started cutting back and restricting travel, says Mark Lowenstein, an analyst with the Yankee Group. With videoconferncing, employees can correct problems quickly, says Robert Albanese of Herzog-Hart, an engineering firm in Boston. Engineers at different locations can work together to make changes. PRODUCTS START AT $14,000: A color system starts at about $14,000. For a better system, buyers should expect to pay around $24,000 or more. Transmitting video signals costs less than $20 an hour. Systems made by the three major manufacturers - Compression Labs, PictureTel and VideoTelecom - now are able to communicate with each other using a videoconferencing standard. The software costs as low as $5,000. SMALL FIRMS TALK TO BIGGER ONES: Smaller companies usually use videoconferencing to talk to bigger companies with which they do business, says Elliot Gold, an industry consultant at TeleSpan Publishing of Altadena, Calif. It will take another year before very small businesses start using video cameras and television screens to talk to each other, he says. (End of package.) Telecommunications Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM